iPod-Jacked 661
Rick and Roll writes "In a story on Wired, entitled Feel Free to Jack Into My iPod, an iPod owner shares experiences he has had with other iPod owners, namely the plugging of his headphones into a stranger's jack. It began when a woman in her 30's walked up to him while he was on a walk, unplugged her headphone jack from her iPod, and motioned for him to plug his in. They then listened to each other's music for about 30 seconds. He has then shared with about a dozen iPod listeners, with most of the strangers reciprocating. According to the article, the practice has also cropped up in other communities. Listeners acquire tastes for different kinds of music, just like on internet/LAN file sharing networks. An interesting read."
Commercial? (Score:5, Insightful)
Warily unplugging his own earbuds, Crandall gingerly plugged them into the woman's iPod, and was greeted by a rush of techno.
"We listened for about 30 seconds," Crandall said. "No words were exchanged. We nodded and walked off."
Why do I get the feeling that this would make a great Apple commercial? I could see them playing this out and it still fitting into the clean and slick Apple marketing image.
The girl sitting next to me... (Score:2, Insightful)
Has her headphones up all the way...I can hear what she's playing all day.
Right now it's Fifty Cent.
Only 84 minutes until 5:00pm...thank god it's a Friday.
Unexpected... (Score:2, Insightful)
It's a small world afterall...and it's getting smaller every day.
Damon,
Sharing of another kind? (Score:2, Insightful)
Put Your Music Where Your Mouth Is (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Commercial? (Score:1, Insightful)
The only problem is that Apple marketing would probably see this as a breach of their TOS, and wouldn't want to encourage rampant music sharing between Apple customers.
Re:Gayest fad ever? (Score:0, Insightful)
Re:so cool (Score:5, Insightful)
why, because they're rich enough to own an ipod so they're trustable?
mmmm smells publicity stuntlishus.
Re:Commercial? (Score:5, Insightful)
What....? (Score:5, Insightful)
I mean, isn't this like flash mobs, satellite radio, and Cue Cats?
I've never met anyone who'd want to "jack my Pod", and I think I'd probably slug anyone reaching for it.
Special IPod Headphones? (Score:5, Insightful)
I used to do this on the school bus when I was twelve. But I didn't think it had anything to do with the brand of walkman I was listening to.
Which brings me to the question: is this a news article or astroturf?
Obligatory joke: (Score:2, Insightful)
Odds are it -was- a commercial (Score:3, Insightful)
by a paid representative (through an intermediary no doubt).
these things happen people, so when some cute chick approaches you and asks you to buy her a specific brand of vodka, or offers to loan you a particular brand of cigarette... she's isn't necessarily a normal person. judging by the situation, she's likely to be on the job. and she's selling you the product as much as any pestering salesman.
they sell a product, a brand, a community, a mindset. If young and hip people have a subculture that revolves uniquely around your product
what would be technologically cool, is limited wireless capability to honestly and easily perform this transaction. allow an owner to name their ipod, and be able to set it to allow clips to be wirelessly traded between other nearby users. maybe even by a physical switch so their connection isn't necessarily 'always on' and always drawing juice.
it sounds to me like the ipod already has the DRM to keep publishers from screaming about such a practice - so now it's just a matter of bluetooth or 802.11b?
Re:Odds are it -was- a commercial (Score:3, Insightful)
Consider that the gentleman in question already owned the product supposedly being marketed. That makes this angle very unlikely.
But this kind of thing is not without precedent. I remember hearing about a company marketing their gadget-with-a-camera product by hiring actors (a man and a woman) to ask strangers to take a picture of them with it - and then going into a sales pitch on the product.
Promiscuous Plugging Outlawed! (Score:4, Insightful)
Next, the RIAA will follow around boomboxers and low-riders charging all the innocent passers-by for the music they are listening to. The boomboxer/low-rider will be summarily executed for unauthorized distribution of music and performing copyrighted works without license. Mothers humming to their babies will be given tit-twisters as punishment unless they pay ASCAP fees. Especially nursing mothers with sore nipples.
You know, I think I'd rather default to a booky than swap a song. After the Wired article, I think the mob treats people better than the RIAA.
Re:Commercial? (Score:4, Insightful)
mod grandparent up to +6 scarey-cause-its-true
Dubious (Score:3, Insightful)
Wired reporter: I need one source that doesn't flow directly from this Crandall joker. I think I'll phone up Pixar.
*ring* *ring*
Pixar: Hello?
Wired reporter: Hello! Ipod jacking, blah, blah, blah...
Pixar: Uh... look... I'm really busy with... umm, the Finding Nemo DVD release! Yeah!
*click*
--
OK, why on earth should I believe even one word from this story?
The guy's blog, says that they thank each other:
We then stand and listen to each other's music for a minute or so, unjack, thank the other person and move on... (from: http://tingilinde.typepad.com/starstuff/2003/09/i
The Wired article says they don't speak at all:
"We listened for about 30 seconds," Crandall said. "No words were exchanged. We nodded and walked off."
OK, so some people say thanks and others don't. Fine.
But here's the clincher: He listens to indigenous music from northern Europe all the time, and has never heard trance. Yeah, right! Indigenous music from northern Europe?!
This monkey Crandall desperately wants attention. He desperately wants people to let him listen to their iPods. So he decides to start a trend. So he calls up Wired and plants a story, and the reporter doesn't think to question the fact that noone else has heard of this...
(Tinfoil hat time: And maybe he's traveling to Cambridge soon, so he nudges them a bit, saying he's heard it's starting there, too, so they'll be ready when he gets there!?)
OK, I'm done ranting now.
zach
Re:Odds are it -was- a commercial (Score:3, Insightful)
Consider that the gentleman in question already owned the product supposedly being marketed. That makes this angle very unlikely.
Perhaps they want to build a culture of people sharing music with iPods. If they get enough people to do this, others will see this and buy an iPod instead of other products because they can be part of a "special" group.
Besides, when these things happen, people want to tell others about it. This guy even wrote an article about the "phenomena" :-)
Re:so cool (Score:5, Insightful)
The walkman could not store your entire CD library, sorted into playlists of your favorite singles.
Walk up to somebody listening to a CD player, and they are probably listening to some deep track on the B side of an album, and the song itself tells you very little about them.
Walk up to somebody listening to any high-capacity MP3 player that's sorted into playlists, and they are probably listening to one of their favorite songs at the moment you interrupt them.
In my book, that's infinitely cooler... although there is the risk that somebody wants to hear what you are listening to at the very moment you are playing something off your "guilty pleasures" list (say, for example, "All The Things She Said", by t.A.T.u., that fake-lesbian pop duo from last year), leading to "you listen to that!?" awkwardness. People who worry about such a thing would always be listening to what they want to be seen listening to whenever they are out on the sidewalk.
Re:What....? (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually, it feels like a PR plant. You know, those things that seem too scripted to be real? Given that a large portion of Apple's success in creating its current image came from (aside from cool ads) extensive PR.
Remember, Apple has managed to take a small user-base, and turn them into a bunch of fanatics, right on par with Harley fanatics, only probably more feeble.
P.S. I'd rather be modded insightful than funny to help people who browse at a higher threshold to learn of this PR stunt.
Re:Ho Hum (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple has created a portable platform with continual software enhancements on both the desktop and device ends--Creative has created a line of "dumb" music players.
Hence the price differentiation.
Walkman is a trademark (Score:2, Insightful)
But I didn't think it had anything to do with the brand of walkman I was listening to.
All "walkman" players are the same brand, and this is Sony. The iPod pocket stereo system is not a Walkman product.
Easy. (Score:4, Insightful)